A very easy and very tasty Christmas treat finale By: Eva Wasney Posted: 6:00 AM CST Friday, Dec. 23, 2022 Last Modified: 6:27 AM CST Friday, Dec. 23, 2022 Updates

We made it. This is the last entry in our 12 days of vintage treats series, which has featured weird and wonderful recipes spanning nearly 200 years from the Free Press archives and family recipe troves. Thanks to everyone who has been following along.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/12/2022 (1397 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Homemade Holidays: 12 days of vintage treats

To cap off the Free Press’s anniversary year, we’re plumbing the archives for holiday recipes of yore. Follow along until Dec. 23 for a sampling of the sweet, strange and trendy desserts to grace our pages and your tables over the last 150 years.

We started with fruitcake and have arrived at rum balls (not that there’s a direct timeline between the two).

This recipe was published by Recipe Swap columnist Alison Gillmor on Christmas Eve 11 years ago — it’s the 12th entry in what appears to be the paper’s first foray into the “12 days of Christmas cookies” format. Kudos to Alison for kicking off this fun (albeit labour-intensive) series that has been picked up and continued on by many different reporters and editors over the last decade.

These rum balls were submitted to Recipe Swap by Susan Hendricks of Winnipeg. They were part of a family cookbook featuring her then-93-year-old mother’s favourite recipes. I understand why these are a favourite, they’re pretty, easy and decadent.

Happy holidays!

Day 12: Rum Balls, 2011

These rum balls were submitted to Recipe Swap by Susan Hendricks of Winnipeg 11 years ago. (Photo by Eva Wasney)

1 cup (250 ml) icing sugar

1/2 cup (125 ml) butter, softened

1/2 cup (125 ml) nuts (walnuts, pecans or almonds), finely chopped

1/2 cup (125 ml) raisins, finely chopped

2 tbsp (30 ml) coconut

2 tbsp (30 ml) cocoa

2 tbsp (30 ml) rum

Sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate flakes, or coconut for rolling

In a medium bowl, cream together sugar and butter. Add nuts, raisins, coconut, cocoa and rum and stir until combined. Chill for about 1 hour.

Form into balls and roll in sprinkles, place on cookie sheets lined with wax paper, and chill again until firm. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

(Gillmor’s) Taster’s notes: Very easy and very tasty.

Recipe submitted by Susan Hendricks

eva.wasney@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @evawasney

Eva Wasney
Reporter

Eva Wasney covers environmental issues in Manitoba for The Narwhal in partnership with the Winnipeg Free Press. Read more about Eva.

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